TONIGHT’S GAME:
The Rangers begin a three-game road trip culminating in the 2012 Bridgestone Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Blueshirts currently rank first in the Atlantic Division standings, and first in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 22-8-4 (48 pts). The Rangers enter the contest having defeated the New York Islanders, 3-0, on Monday at Madison Square Garden to extend their winning streak to five games, and are 7-2-0 in their last nine. The Blueshirts have now registered at least one point in 21 of their last 26 games (19-5-2). The Capitals enter the contest with a 17-15-2 (36 pts) record to rank 11th in the Eastern Conference, and have lost four of their last six games (2-3-1). Following the contest, the Rangers will face-off against the Florida Panthers on Friday, Dec. 30, at BankAtlantic Center (7:30 p.m.), in their final game of 2011.

RANGERS vs. CAPITALS:
* All-Time: 84-84-18-5 overall (46-37-9-2 at home; 38-47-9-3 on the road)
* 2011-12: Tonight is the second of four meetings this season, and the second of two on the road. The Rangers are 1-0-0 following a 6-3 win on Nov. 25 at Verizon Center. Ryan Callahan tallied a team-high, three assists/points and Ruslan Fedotenko notched two goals in the contest. Henrik Lundqvist made 18 saves for the win.
* Last Season: New York was 3-1-0 overall, with a 2-0-0 mark on the road. The Rangers out-scored the Capitals, 17-6, in the season series. New York tallied four goals in 13 power play attempts (30.8%), and successfully defended 14 of 15 shorthanded situations (93.3%) in the four games. Brian Boyle led the team in scoring with three goals, four assists and seven points in four games. Henrik Lundqvist posted a record of 2-1-0 with a 1.34 GAA, .955 Sv% and two shutouts in three games, while Martin Biron won his only meeting against the Capitals in the shootout, stopping 22 of 23 shots and two of four shootout attempts.
* The Rangers have won four of their last five games at Verizon Center, having out-scored the Capitals, 18-9, over the span
* New York ranks second with an 11-5-2 (24 pts) record on the road; Washington is tied for 10th with an 11-5-1 (23 pts) mark at home
* The Rangers have posted a 7-1-1 record vs. Southeast Division opponents; the Capitals are 3-4-2 vs. the Atlantic Division
* Henrik Lundqvist has posted a 12-6-2 record with a 2.75 GAA and three shutouts in 20 career regular season contests vs. Washington; Martin Biron is 11-8-1-2 with a 2.50 GAA and one shutout in 22 career regular season games vs. the Capitals
* Brad Richards leads the Rangers with 26 assists and 34 points in 47 career regular season contests vs. Washington; Ruslan Fedotenko has tallied a team-high 12 goals in 49 career regular season games vs. the Capitals
* New York lists one former Capital on their roster: Steve Eminger (2002-03 – 2007-08)
* Washington lists two former Rangers on their roster: Mike Knuble (1998-99 – 1999-00); Tom Poti (2001-02 – 2005-06)

SPECIAL TEAMS:
The Rangers are 12-58 (20.7%) with the man advantage in the last 16 games. The Blueshirts’ penalty kill has held their opponent scoreless in seven of their last 10 games (28-32, 87.5% over the span), while tallying four shorthanded goals during the stretch. New York is tied for third in the NHL with five shorthanded goals. The Blueshirts have posted a record of 14-1-2 in games when tallying a power play goal, and are 14-3-2 when holding their opponent scoreless on the power play.
* Power Play: The Rangers did not tally a goal in three power play attempts (4:45) on Monday vs. Long Island. New York ranks 20th overall (21-132, 15.9%) and 27th on the road (7-62, 11.3%). The Rangers are 2-12 (8:51) in five-on-three situations (last – 12/23 vs. PHI), and 0-4 (3:46) when four-on-three (last – 11/3 vs. ANA). Shorthanded goals allowed (3): 12/5 vs. TOR (Steckel); 12/8 vs. TBL (Moore); 12/17 at PHX (Korpikoski).
* Penalty Killing: The Blueshirts held the Islanders scoreless in three shorthanded situations (4:45) on Monday at MSG. New York ranks seventh overall (105-123, 85.4%) and is tied for 12th on the road (58-69, 84.1%). The Rangers are 5-6 (3:26) in three-on-five situations (last – 12/17 at PHX), and 0-1 (1:17) when three-on-four (last – 10/7 at LAK). Shorthanded goals for (5): 10/20 at CGY (Prust); 12/8 vs. TBL (Anisimov); 12/10 at BUF (Hagelin); 12/10 at BUF (Callahan); 12/20 at NJD (Hagelin).
* Four-on-Four: New York did not tally/yield a goal in two four-on-four situations (1:15) on Monday vs. Long Island. The Rangers are plus-three in 36 four-on-four situations (63:36), and even in one three-on-three situation (0:01). Four-on-four goals for (3): 10/18 at VAN (Gaborik); 10/20 at CGY (McDonagh); 10/27 vs. TOR (Girardi). Four-on-four goals allowed (0).

WORLD JUNIOR UPDATE
Rangers’ prospects J.T. Miller (USA) and Peter Ceresnak (Slovakia) are currently competing at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship in Alberta, Canada. Miller notched a power play goal and posted a plus-two rating in the USA’s opening game, an 11-3 win vs. Denmark on Monday. Ceresnak registered two shots on goal and a plus-one rating in Slovakia’s 3-1 win over Latvia yesterday.

QUICK HITS:
* The Rangers enter the contest with a five-game winning streak, and are 7-2-0 in the last nine contests
* This is the latest the Rangers have been in first place of the Eastern Conference standings since the 1995-96 season, when New York held the top position through games played on Mar. 15, 1996 (game #68). *courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau
* The Blueshirts’ 11-3-2 (24 pts) mark at MSG is their best start at home through 16 games since 1995-96 (12-2-2, 26 pts)
* New York has registered a point in 21 of their last 26 games (19-5-2), and has out-scored their opponent, 86-54, during the stretch
* New York is 6-1-1 when leading after the first period and 14-0-2 when leading after the second
* New York leads the NHL with an .846 win% when out-shooting their opponent (11-2-0)
* The Rangers rank second in the NHL when scoring first, posting a 17-1-1 mark (.895 win%) in those contests, and their 17 wins are tied for second in the league

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:
* Henrik Lundqvist has held opponents to two or fewer goals in 17 games this season, and is 13-4-1 with a 1.77 GAA, .941 Sv% and two shutouts in his last 18 games
* Lundqvist ranks third in the NHL in Sv% (.936), is tied for third in GAA (1.95) and fourth in shutouts (three)
* Martin Biron has held opponents to two or fewer goals in six of his eight starts this season, and has posted a 2.00 GAA and .929 Sv% during his current four-game winning streak
* Marian Gaborik enters the contest with a five-game goal/point streak, tallying seven goals, one assist and a plus-eight rating over the span
* Gaborik is tied for first in the NHL with 22 goals
* Michael Del Zotto has tallied 15 points (2 G, 13 A) in the last 15 games
* Del Zotto is tied for second in the NHL with a plus-25 rating
* Stu Bickel has tallied four assists in four games since being recalled on Dec. 18
* Anton Stralman enters the contest with a three-game assist streak (four assists over the span), has posted a plus-nine rating in the last four and has logged 20:00+ of ice time in five of the last six contests

Boom Boom, people in the media aren’t angry fans who ask questions like, “Torts, how come you haven’t put Hagelin on the PP?” We don’t try to coach, and we don’t pretend that we know more about the personnel than the coach who sees his players every day, every minute they are on the ice. And we sure don’t want to come off as the jackwagon who asks the jackwagon question.

And there is no way in hell Girardi is taking a game off just because some people think he’s playing too much. You’d have to shoot him with a tranquilizer dart to get him to sit out a game healthy. Or, for that matter, injured. Remember, the two games he missed in his entire NHL career, he had a severe ribcage injury … and still wanted to play.

Am I the only one puzzled why Biron (whom I admire and trust to a degree…) is in the net against high shooting team, in not so tough schedule? Hope, against a law of probability, we will score at least one more than opponents…and, yes, I remember our 6:3 victory (taken in equation).

No such thing as a “lock” but Vancouver looks like solid value at San Jose, right now being offered at +103 at http://www.betonline.com.

Vancouver grades as having a 56-44 per cent share advantage at even strength; and a stunning 81 per cent share to 19 per cent share advantage vs. San Jose on the power play. Poor San Jose shows 267 points for, and 911 points against on their power play, to date, this month.

Only thing going for San Jose is that they are home. Even so, Vancouver should be -147, not +103 with the books. This looks like striking California gold for the out of town prospectors.

What in the name of Esa Tikkanen was that effort by Team USA? The goaltending by Gibson not very good. Their offense not as fast and dynamic as in the past. Funny that they are in same position as Canada now with a lot of their best players staying in the NHL but Canada has more depth to overcome it.

Actually, neither people in the media nor fans like us should even have to pose the Hagelin lack of PP time question of Torts. It is not trying to “coach” the team on our part. It is the same as the sometimes probing questions asked by the media of all NFL coaches following all games, whether they won or lost.

Was the media “coaching” when it took Tom Coughlan to task after the ill-advised punt right to DeSean Jackson cost the Giants one of the most embarrassing losses in franchise history? Except that that was AFTER the fact, and my speculation that Hagelin will become an even greater asset to this team, given ample PP time, I am making BEFORE the fact, and we shall see about that, hopefully in the near future.

Ok, let’s say none of us presumes to ask Torts the question as regards Hagelin’s utter lack of power play time. May we at least discuss among ourselves what giving this young man who is measuring up impressively in every respect, what putting him out there with a man advantage might add to this team’s PP pressure and results? Does anyone think putting Hags out there with more open ice to range in would hurt the PP and the team?

In fact, Carp, this is such a rhetorical question is seems ridiculous, at least to me, that it even has to be asked, or at least pondered, privately and here at the blog. As you may know, even strength is the measuring rod I use to evaluate players, I hardly look at PP stats. It seems to me that a player who excels at even strength is going to be a dominant force on the power play. Just as I would shy away from giving a player who is unproductive at equal strength PP time opportunity, for the converse reason. Has Dubi earned PP time this year? Do you want him out there, 5-on-4. Fedo, is he you PP man who needs more time 5-on-4? In fact Hags has earned it and those who are “bust” at even strength should not even be part of PP unit considerations.

I’m not coaching the team at all, Carp. I am rooting for the team with the philosophical bent that how you deploy your available personnel is as critical to your success as how much talent you have at your disposal. I just can’t help but think out loud that Hagelin’s unique and brilliant skills could be put to even better use. Shouldn’t the best skater on the team, who has proven he can kill the opposition five-on-five, at least be given that shot?

Boom, I have no problem whatsoever of you asking those questions, though, nor do I have a problem with some of us being smarter than the coach, or thinking that way, or even questioning the coach pre- or post-decision or lack thereof.

I was just explaining why the media doesn’t ask such questions, as you posed.